For All the Wrong Reasons
by danners3
Summary: John and his team are requested to assist in resolving a disagreement between settlements, and Ronan recalls their first meeting and the attention of a certain member of the ruling family. They soon discover that there is a hidden agenda to their request.
1. Chapter 1 Sins of Thy Father

SINS OF THY FATHER

Ronan finished his workout with John. It had been a particularly gruelling one, tensions had been running high on the base these past two weeks with the offworld missions temporarily suspended due to a potential pathogen scare from P5R476. Not used to being enclosed in a city environment for such a long period of time, Ronan had felt the need to expend some serious energy. Fortuntely, his commander and good friend, John Sheppard, had recognised this and set up a training session.

John Sheppard however, had not fared particularly well at the end of that gruelling hour. He sat on the floor of the workout room, a cut above his left eye, large bruise on his ribs and slightly wounded pride from suffering such a beating. Giving a mental shrug, he looked at the big Satedan. There weren't many on Atlantis that would even attempt to spar with him, so full points for lasting the full hour at least.

Holding a towel to the small gash on his head, he tapped his ear comm as it crackled to life. "John? Elizabeth here. We have just been given clearance by the medical team – the pathogens are now gone and we can resume gate travel." His resulting cheer had her laughing. "I'm guessing that you and Ronan have just finished sparring and you came off second best again?"

"Roger that Elizabeth. I've been used as a punching bag by the big man for the last week, so yeah, I'm feeling just a little battered at the moment. You have a mission for us?"

In the control room, Elizabeth flicked a glance at Rodney who had just intercepted the last communication. "Yes Colonel. This is a strange one. Remember young Arlia from T8N926?"

It was Ronan whose eye's were the first to show awareness, remembering quite clearly their previous mission there. The ruling family of one of the planet's contintents had been in active disagreement with the ruling family on another country on the other side of the same continent and the disagreement had centred around the supply of water for crops. When they had arrived on the planet to complete a simple trading mission, they had been met by an angry ruler of Arlon, one of the larger countries on the one continent that held all the inhabitants of that world. The continent was divided into two countries, each country with a ruling family and the culture was not dissimilar to the fuedal times of earth back in the medeivel days, somewhat primitive and with little technological advances.

Crops were their main industy and these were grown both for the use of the people and basic trade and the water supply to irrigate the crops was taken from a large river that bisected the two countries, making an effectual border. When the Atlantis team arrived on the planet for trade, the two countries were bitterly fighting over the rights to control the supply of water, and Sheppard and his team had sat down with both leaders to come to a suitable agreement. They had left, with both ruling families in accord and with the goods for which they had come. A successful mission in their eyes.

But it was not just the mission that Ronan remembered clearly. The daughter of the ruler from Arlon had watched him with curious eyes and had taken to following him around, asking questions and every time he had turned around, she was there and he had found himself fascinated by her long, almost jet black hair and piercing blue eyes. They had spent several days there, and one evening he had been sitting outside around one of the large fires that burned in the evening for warmth and comraderie, and she had joined him, sitting close enough so that their bodies had just brushed up against each other. Ronan had felt a piercing need shoot through him, but had quickly quelled it, knowing that she was not one of the peasant girls who could be bedded for a little fun and no consequence.

His reverie was broken when he heard John speaking into the comm, and saw that he had risen and was packing away the sparring sticks they had been using. "I'm sure you'll refresh our memories Elizabeth. Give us an hour to get cleaned up and I'll organise a team to meet you in the conference room. You can give us a run down there. Sheppard out."

Seeing the thoughtful look on Ronan's face, he paused. "What's up big fella?"

Ronan frowned now. "I remember that mission Sheppard. The girl, Arlia – damn, I don't know that I want to be seeing her again." He dropped his eyes, missing the frank curiousity that shot straight to John's. "Inappropriate thoughts Sheppard, and you don't roll around the hay with girls like that. Get's you into serious trouble!" At his brusque explanation, John gave a bark of laughter.

"Unless you make it a classy roll in the hay Ronan..." and was rewarded with a slap on the back that left him gasping for breath. "Hey! Just joking!"

"Well don't Sheppard. Men like me don't get women like her."

"Well that's crap Ronan. If there's chemistry there man, then go for it. You're a warrior, a soldier and have a damn lot more to offer than some of those little ineffectual morons that call themselves men. If you want her, stand up for yourself and take her... I mean ask her... hell, you know what I mean!"

At Ronan's forbidding glare, he chose that moment to exit quickly and take his shower. _Ok, so there were some things you didn't joke about to Ronan, point taken_, thought John and wondered then, if perhaps there was something he could do to help things along... just a little.

They met in the conference room with the full team and Ronan's frown increased when they heard why they were being requested back to the planet.

"There has been another serious disagreement on the planet, this time over the rights to mine one of the large underground caves that cross the border of both countries. Unfortunately this time things have escalated, and the security forces from the second country, Pengal have stormed Arlon and have taken the girl, Arlia prisoner in their main settlement and she is being heavily guarded with threat of torture if the Pengalians are not given permission to work the mine equally."

Ronan pushed himself away from the wall where he had been leaning, refusing as he often did, to sit down when he could stand. "So, we go in , get the girl and kick the crap out their miserable butts – sounds like a simple extract and destroy mission to me!"

John hid his grin, somewhat unsuccessfully and Elizabeth's reply was sharper than usual. "No Ronan, that is not what you are going to do. Yes, you will go in and extract the girl... carefully and without undue use of force..." she held up her hand to silence him when he went to interupt. "We will be there at the request of the Arlon ruling family and we will also be there to offer peace talks, which is where I come in. We will round table them until a solution is reached. We do not want to risk increasing the chances of this escalating to a full war if we go in with guns blazing and an unnecessary show of might. We have to promote a peaceful solution."

"Peaceful my ass..." Ronan muttered. "Just wait till I get my hands on any of those bastards who lay one finger on Arlia..." and this time John did not hide his smile, nor did he attempt to cover the laughter that erupted out of him, earning a sharp glance from Elizabeth.

"You boys – if you're not going to do this my way, I'll not sanction the mission – is that what you want?" Playing hard ball now with her delinquent male soldiers in front of her, she looked each of them in the eye until she got the required nod of respect. "Ok, organise yourselves and be ready to move out in an hour. And leave the heroics and the machoism behind – Ronan and John – your testosterone is not required on this trip, however some tact would be nicely appreciated!"

It was Teyla who laughed this time, earning glares from both Ronan and John, she had however spent many missions with them and knew exactly what Elizabeth was talking about. They were typical boys, if you kill it, shoot it, hit it or fly it, they were happy and she agreed with Elizabeth that in some cases, and this one in particular, a little more tact and thought was required.

Suited up in tactical vests, the usual assortment of weapons and somber faces, the team met in the gate room at the appointed time and once the final chevron had clicked into place and the event horizon of the established wormhole had settled into a shimmering blue, Sheppard, Ronan and the team stepped through along with Elizabeth.

There was no welcoming committee this time and Elizabeth thought that things must have escalated just a little further since their communication. John checked his weapon unnecessarily to give himself a couple of minutes with Ronan while the others moved on ahead. "Ok Ronan? You're not gonna do anything stupid are you and get Elizabeth all pissed at us again?"

"I'm good Sheppard. I've got it under control. Don't worry." Ronan spared John a sharp glance then turned to follow the others.

"Ok Ronan, I've got your back. Let's go find your girl." John said and promptly wished he hadn't when Ronan swung around with clenched fists declaring "she's not my girl!" John wisely chose silence to follow, and went to catch up to the others.

The head of the ruling family of Arlon, and Arlia's father was called Ryall and he was pacing angrily in front of the men responsible for the country's security when they arrived. He spied John immediately and his relief was clear as he welcomed them into the room. "Colonel Sheppard. At last. We have received another communication from Brast and I could hear Arlia's screams in the background. He has hurt her and will continue to do so if I do not give into his demands. But if I give into his demands this time, there will be another, and another and soon there will ne no more peace. I do not wish this."

"So you'll see your daughter hurt?" Ronan stood before him now, glaring down at him from his superior height. "You'll use your daughter as a pawn in your game of control?"

"Ronan, stand down." John had come up behind Ronan and said the words quietly and by the slight change in the carriage of his shoulders, John saw that Ronan was heeding his words.

Ryall did not however, cower from Ronan's questions. "I love my daughter very much Ronan, and I'll not see her hurt, but I cannot afford to show weakness in front of my people. I need guidance, and I need you to get her out – that will save face and show that you have stepped in as an intermediary."

Ronan's look of disgust was evident but he stepped back and let Sheppard take the lead. "Ronan, Teyla and I will go there now Ryall, and we will send back Brast to sit down with yourself and Elizabeth to see if you can come to an agreement that suits both parties. But priority is to get your daughter out, she doesn't need to be a casualty here. Where is she being held?"

Given the location, Ronan, Teyla and John left the settlement and headed toward the river where they would cross to get into the other country. They had radio'd Brast's people to let them know they were coming so as not to receive any nasty surprises. Primitive river crossing was available, mainly by either footbridge or boat and they chose footbridge which landed them near the settlement on the other side. John halted them well before they got there.

"My spidey senses are starting to kick in. You getting anything? Teyla?"

Teyla paused to look back at John. "I believe that you are the only one that gets these 'spidey senses' as you call them, so no, I do not."

"Ronan?"

"Getting an uneasy feeling Sheppard, so yeah, I guess you could say so. Set up do you think?"

"I'm thinking that we go in with extra caution. Something's not right here – Ryall was too quick to send us over here, and Brast was too quick to let us come... I'm thinking that we are being set up."

"You are distrustful Colonel Sheppard." Teyla had experienced John's sense of distrust before, sometimes it played out a good hunch and other times, well it was not so good.

"Yeah Teyla, trust is earned, and that hasn't been done yet, so I'm giving the order here to go in with an extra set of eyes and ears on. Copy that?"

Teyla's nod was enough to convince him that his orders would be carried out.

The moved closer to the settlement and it was a rustling in the bushes that alerted John to the fact that his spidey senses were in fact correct this time. "Incoming..." was all he managed to get out, when they were suddenly surrounded by ten burly men, wielding guns which were pointed at them in an extremely threatening manner.

"Colonel Sheppard. You will come with us. Please." The one who stood centre front spoke, and he did not appear to be in the clothing of this world, slightly more modern in nature, and the weapons they wielded were certainly not of this world.

"Seeing as you said please..." and earned himself a hard tap around the head from one of the weapons for his smart mouth. Their weapons were taken from them and they were marched at gunpoint to the centre of the settlement and into one of the main buildings that was used for disciplinary matters such as court and jail. Ronan growled threateningly at the man who prodded him in the back to get him to move into the room and received a fist in his stomach, which left him doubled over and breathless, but cursing his attacker.

They were thrown in the jail cell, a dark, damp concreted room that had water dripping down the floors and mildew creeping up the walls and from within a darkened corner of the cell that heard a small cry. "Ronan?"

Ronan straightened from his punch immediately and moved quickly to the corner, drawing the girl out of the shadows and into the light. "Arlia! Are you hurt...?" his question was abruptly cut off as he saw the large bruise on the side of her face and noticed that she was holding her arm in such a way as to imply that it had been either badly sprained or broken. "Damn it Sheppard, I'm gonna kill them. Peace talks be damned – those bastards are mine!"

He drew Arlia toward him and ran his hands over her head and down her body to make sure there were no further injuries and seeing the tears spring into her eyes he pulled her close to fold her into his arms. Dropping his head down so that he could bury his face in her hair he murmured. "You're ok now Arlia, those men won't get near you again – and your father? I'll make sure he pays for this!"

"My father?" Arlia pulled back out of Ronan's arms. "What has he to do with all of this? He has only to agree to their demands and I will be set free."

Sheppard stepped forward now, to give Arlia a grim smile. "Not so simple Arlia. We were set up here, led straight into a trap. Your father has been working with another group, men not from this planet. I think they got greedy and used you as bargaining chip, but dear old dad got even greedier. He tried to play them off against Brast's people, and guess who holds all the chips now? Our offworld friends, who incidentally are starting to look remarkably familiar." He snapped his fingers at Ronan.

"Remember that group of bounty hunters who were sitting in that bar on P9T239 and bragging about some high flier they had just caught and were bringing in for a reward.?"

John waited until recognition shone in Ronan's eyes and Teyla spoke up. "I remember John. They were drinking heavily and the more they drank, the more stories they seemed to bring out. Some of them seemed so outlandish we thought they were making them up. Do you think it is the same group?"

"That one that spoke to us once we had been ambushed? I'm sure that he was one of them – and he knew my name. They want something on this planet real bad and they've offered both Brast and Ryall something in return, but looks like the plan has backfired."

Arlia was looking a little sick at hearing all this information and she leaned into Ronan to rest her cheek against his chest. "My own father? He used me like this? Is that true Ronan?"

"I'm afraid so honey – and he used you to get us here as well. These men obviously want something we have as well – so Sheppard?" he waited until John acknowledged. "Hope you can come up with a plan soon, cause this simple extract and destroy mission just got a whole lot more complicated!"


	2. Chapter 2  A Price on Their Heads

CHAPTER 2 – A PRICE ON THEIR HEADS

"So Sheppard... got a plan yet?"

Ronon watched the Colonel's eyes as they darkened, a warning sign that an impending plan was making a somewhat unorthodox bed in his mind. But it was the grin, a little sly with a touch of grimness that really gave it away. John loved a good plan.

He opened up one of his pockets in his tactical vest and pulled out a small piece of C4, the explosive that they used frequently and watched Ronon's eyes widen in appreciation.

"Guess that's why you're the boss my friend..." He tucked Arlia a little more securely beneath his arm and moved up towards the bars of the cage. Teyla had moved towards the bars also, and was attempting to look out and down the hallway to see where the guards were situated.

"I still have a knife hidden strapped to my leg, they didn't manage to find that in their search. What about you Ronon, I am sure you have other weapons..." Smiling at him now, she knew his penchant for weapons of all kinds and also knew that he secured several knives of varying descriptions on his body at all times.

"Yeah Teyla, got a few. " Using just one hand, he reached down and pulled a long, lethal looking knife out of a chest holder, a small stiletto type knife from his boot and tucked into a hidden pocket in his pants he had a thick, short knife that looked like something to fillet fish with. He tossed one to John and a second one to Teyla so that she had two, and kept the third one for himself.

"So, we're good?" A man of few words, but a lot of action, and that is what he was waiting for now.

"Just let me get this C4 set..." John placed the C4 in two sections on the bars of their cell, and setting the detonator, he waited until the others had moved to the back of the cell and Ronon had covered Arlia protectively with his big body.

"Fire in the hole..." he muttered and pressed the detonator, causing two substantial explosions that effectively tore two large holes in the bars and allowed them a means of escape. They were quick to take this, John taking the lead, knife at the ready, followed by Ronon with Arlia and Teyla to take up the rear.

They encountered four guards who had come running at the sound of the explosion and knives at the ready, they had quickly despatched them and secured their weapons. Arlia was whimpering beside Ronon and he pushed her head lightly into his chest murmuring, "Don't look, just stay close to me and I'll get you out of here... ok honey?" He felt her nod her head against his massive chest, and he took a deep breath. He was not going to let anything happen to her.

They cleared the outside without encountering any further resistance. "So, where's the rest of the posse?" John looked around curiously, but could only see local villagers, looking at them curiously, but going about their business. "They leave us incarcerated here, with four guards... we came in with ten, so we know there's still six out there, and likely more. What the hell are they here for?"

He turned to Arlia. "Have you ever seen these men before? Surely this is not the first time they have been to your world. They are here for a reason, we need to find out what that reason is, and stop them, because if we don't - your world and your people will be in danger. We need you to help us Arlia, I think you know something."

Ronon was angry. "Enough Sheppard. Stop giving her a hard time, you'll go through me if you continue to do that. Damn it, her own father just sold her out.. why not go and talk to him. She doesn't know anything..."

John was still looking at Arlia and saw something flash in her eyes. "I think you do, don't you sweetheart... I think you saw or heard something you weren't supposed to... and you need to tell us what that is."

He had moved closer to her, and she shrank back a little, pushing her body closer to Ronon, whose eyes blazed in anger. "Sheppard, I'm warning you, friend or not. Don't push me!"

In a defensive hands out gesture, John stopped when he was close to them. "Think about it Ronon. A deal's been going down here, probably in the works for some time and that would involve meetings, clandestine ones. Arlia had full run of the compound where they live and you know how much she loved to follow everyone around. It's likely she saw something.. please, Ronon, just ask her."

Ronon shut his eyes briefly, trying to stem some of the feelings he had towards Arlia, which now that she was near him, were escalating. He knew that these feelings were affecting his logic and knew on another level, that what John was saying was not unreasonable, and in fact, quite plausible. He set Arlia back from him, just a little, so that he could look into her eyes, needing to see whether the answers she gave him were honest.

"Arlia, sweetheart. I'm sorry to ask you this, I really am... did you see something? Something that you knew wasn't right? You need to tell us now, because without all the facts, we can't make the right decisions to help you, and help your people. You understand that, don't you?"

He saw the clear blue of her eyes, and a shutter start to go down over them, then stop as though she made the decision to tell him everything.

"I'm sorry Ronon. My father did bring you here under false pretenses, I'm sorry I did not tell you from the beginning. I felt torn, he is my father, and while I do not agree with what he is doing, it is hard to suddenly throw loyalty away. I needed to protect him, hoping that he would come to make the right choice on his own."

She moved to return to Ronon's embrace, but what he had just heard, caused a sliver of ice to go through his body and he held her back, still looking into his eyes. "What do the men want Arlia? It's not the mining rights, is it? It's nothing to do with anything on this planet. Tell us!" He gave her a shake now, angry that he had trusted her, felt things for her and she had betrayed them.

"Ronon, for god's sake, look at what they did to me. I got these injuries because I would not give you up, I would not give them what they want."

John interupted them now. "We need to move out of here, we're too exposed. I'm assuming that the stargate will be guarded and even with these weapons, we have a bit of a disadvantage. Let's get somewhere safe for now, then we can continue this discussion. I'm feeling just a little exposed here."

John took the lead with Teyla taking their six, leaving Ronon in the middle with Arlia. His face looked angry and he appeared to be fighting some sort of internal battle, knowing that there would be several facets to the story, but also that while it was likely that Arlia was an innocent in the plan, if she had provided them with certain knowledge earlier they may be in a different position now.

They could hear shouts from the village and knew that the men who had been involved in their capture would be hunting them, and with a skill level similar to their own. John set a fast pace, leaving the rough track and pushing into the forest,where they would be afforded a higher level of cover and would be able to hear the sounds of pursuit more clearly. He slowed his pace slightly when he heard Arlia's slight gasp of pain as her arm inadvertantly banged against the side of a tree, and Ronon, swearing a little, pulled her in front of him so that he could give her much smaller body some protection with his own.

Beyond the protection of the forest, was a slightly mountainous region and it was here that the supposed mining was to take place. Arriving here, John noted the presence of several caves, two of which appeared large enough for them to take some sort of shelter in. The heavy presence of gray clouds above, indicated that a storm was closing in, and he preferred not to be caught out in the open once it was upon them.

John entered the larger of the two caves first, and gave a slight shudder. He was not particularly fond of spiders or other large insects, especially those alien in nature, having had several not so pleasant encounters with certain species, and experience told him that these bugs liked to make their home in caves just like this. They all pulled torches from their tactical vests, but the darkness was consuming and it allowed little light to permeate it.

"Ronon? Can we stop please... I'm finding it hard to breathe in here." John turned back to look at Arlia and she did appear to be showing some sort of difficulty, her breathing had become fast and shallow as though it hurt to take deeper breaths.

Ronon dipped his head down slightly and said softly into her ear. "You're having a panic attack Arlia, that's all it is. You need to breath a little slower and deeper, to get more oxygen. Look at me!"

She turned frightened eyes towards him and he cursed himself, remembering too late, her fear of the dark, especially closed in dark places such as this. She had become locked in one of the small underground chambers of their dwelling for almost a whole day when she was very young, and by the time one of the family guards had found her, she had been almost catatonic with terror and had avoided dark places such as this, ever since.

"Shhh... just breathe and keep looking at me." And she did, and he put his hands to span around her waist so that he could feel her breathe and slowly the fear began to leave her eyes. "I'm sorry Arlia, I had forgotten what you went through, but you know now, that the dark can't hurt you, especially when you have friends with you."

Breathing easier now, she was able to reply, "friends? Do you still wish to be friends, thinking I have done the things that you have accused me of?"

John stopped his exploration of this cave to face her. "There's been no accusations Arlia, just a request from us to tell the truth about what your father has done. We've been brought here under false pretenses and I don't think it is too much to ask that we be brought in out of the dark..." he rolled his eyes now, considering just where they happened to be right now... "... so to speak!"

"How much longer must we remain in here Colonel Sheppard? The dark feels like it is alive... I don't think I can be in here for long... please."

"Arlia, we'll be in here as long as we need to be – for now it is a safe place for us. You need to stand up and face whatever demons you carry inside you. Don't think about the dark, think about what you overheard your father saying. Think back and tell us everything you heard. We can at least use this time wisely." John slid down the wall of the cave and motioned for the others to do the same. Pulling out ration bars from his tactical vest, he handed one to Arlia and broke off a piece for himself, chewing the rather unpalatable, but at least nutritious, bars.

Ronon slid down the wall also, and pulled Arlia down so that she rested between his legs with her body pulled back against his chest. He felt her breathing slowly relax as she chewed the bar.

"I was outside the window of the main parlour, doing some gardening, pulling weeds. The window of the parlour was open and father was inside, talking to a man whose voice I did not recognise. He sounded angry, so I crept a little closer, thinking that my father could perhaps be in some sort of trouble." John's eyes glittered eerily in the dark and Teyla sighed, suspecting that this story was going to end in betrayal.

"If I pulled myself up slightly, I could just see in the window a little. Father was standing beside the fire place, and he looked a little frightened and the other man, was standing over him – he was much taller. He spoke of you Colonel Sheppard and of Atlantis, and how there was a price on your head and he was there to collect. I did not know what he meant at first – I assumed that the price he talked of was for a job that he wanted you to do. But that did not explain his anger or my father's fear."

Ronon's hands had settled comfortably around her and he pulled her back ever so slightly, so that she fit securely against him, and got a tiny whiff of the scent that she wore, that trickled up through his senses and shot a bolt of fire through his groin, causing him to shift a little uncomfortably. She had paused, and he hoped that she had not been made... aware, of his discomfort.

"Go on Arlia, we're all listening..." He keen glance over her shoulder at him let him know that she did indeed feel his... discomfort, and he took the opportunity to growl slightly in her ear. "Continue... please..." Wriggling back against him just a little, he cursed softly, punishing her by pinching lightly, the skin on the inside of her non injured arm, causing her to jump just a little.

"The story sweetheart..." he growled and this time there was no mistaking the lightly masked threat in his voice, and she knew that she had perhaps pushed him, just a little too far.

"I think you have guessed how the remainder of this tale goes. The stranger asked my father to get you to our world under false pretenses, and my father, looking very afraid, refused to do this, stating that you had been good to them in the past and he would not ruin your trading relationship. The man then called my father a fool and he would find another means to persuade my father to get you to our world. He stormed out of the room then, and I was not quick enough to get out of his way. He saw me standing there when he came out, and I tried to run, but he grabbed me, punched me in the face so that I was unconscious. When I woke up, it was in the cell you found me in."

She sighed then, and began to cry, bringing up her good hand to wipe the tears away, smearing grime and dirt across her face. "So you see Colonel Sheppard, I would never have willingly endangered you or the people from Atlantis. Before I was captured, I intended to go back inside and tell my father that he cannot go through with it. You mistrusted us Colonel Sheppard, if I had not been captured, my father would not have agreed, and yes he got you here under false pretenses, but he assumed I think, that you would soon learn what was happening and that you would be able to take care of yourselves, and forgive him for what he had to do to protect his daughter."

John did feel a measure of guilt at the assumption that she had had something to do with their capture. His apology was both to Arlia and Ronon, knowing that the Satedan had always had faith in the girl. "I apologise Arlia, it was wrong to jump to conclusions, and we would normally not make rash decisions without being in possession of all the facts. Those men are bounty hunters, we have seen them before, and somebody out there, wants us either dead or captured."

He stood up now, resolve and understanding now in place after being made privy to all the facts. "We need to find out who has a price on our heads. These bounty hunters are small fish, we need to turn the tables, capture them, then get them to lead us to the one who hired them. Looks like we've managed to seriously piss somebody off!"


	3. Chapter 3 Retaliation

CHAPTER 3 – RETALIATION

John moved back to the cave entrance and heard the noise of the storm before he got there. The heavens had opened and sheets of sleeting rain fell relentlessly outside and he grimaced. They would not be leaving the cave anytime soon. They needed to formulate a plan and find out just who the hell had put a price on their heads. Considering the many squirmishes they had been involved in since arriving in Atlantis, is was really a lottery as to who would win the prize for the most pissed off.

With the rain had come the cold and the air inside the cave, already cold, now began to show a degree of frigidity that would eventually become debilitating. John debated the best course of action. They needed warmth to ride out the storm, so the immediate plan would be to build a fire, for obvious ventilation reasons this would have to be done near the mouth of the cave._ If we've got to ride out the storm in shelter_ thought John, _then chances are the ones who are after us need to also. Keep warm, stay as dry as we can, live to fight another day..._

They moved toward the mouth of the cave once John had relayed his plan, and gathered up some of the dry wood that was littered throughout the cave and surrounding passage ways, obviously pushed in by previous high winds and storms. Ronon soon had a roaring fire going, and the warmth that radiated from that soon had them unthawing slightly and feeling just a little more optimistic.

"So John, you wanna make a list?" Ronon looked at John, just a hint of humour in his eyes. He sat close to the fire, Arlia tucked up against his side, her eyes heavy now and nearly shut. She would be asleep soon John thought, looking at her, and felt guilt again at thinking that she had played a part in their capture. _Trust, my friend... something that is hard to hold onto. Too much crap in the past..._

He would have to learn to trust again, little steps, at least that was progress.

"A list Ronon? Hell man,that would take all night. We've done a lot of good in this galaxy, but we've also pissed off a lot of people." he paused a moment to conjure up a mental list of names in his head.

" … Kolya,most miserable son of a bitch there is, and we've done his army some serious damage over the years... so he's definitely at the top!"

John grinned a little at this one, and Teyla shot him a surprised look. John had been captured by Kolya and held in a cell next to a captured wraith and the wraith had been allowed to feed on him. It had certainly been no amusing matter.

Ronon managed to insert one, recalling another amusing mission report that had put Rodney in a good light and John in a not so good one.

"Remember Harmony? The 13 year old future queen – you managed to piss her off Sheppard, turning down her proposal of marriage, then grabbing her necklace to activate the drone device. It sounded as though she would have a pretty mean streak..."

John gave this consideration. "Yeah, she did ponder different ways to make me suffer and I do recall thumbscrews being mentioned... keep her on the list!"

Teyla rattled off a half dozen leaders of various worlds where missions had not gone to plan and they had left with bitter feelings. These too would have to be considered a possibility.

"The Wraith!" Ronon blurted this out and John leapt to his feet, reaching for the weapon and bringing it up and pointed into the darkness outside the cave.

"No Sheppard! On the list – we have to add the wraith. They would likely hold the biggest grudge against us – they may have decided to resort to using a bounty hunter to bring us in. I mean, we've managed to evade them so far... so who knows?" Feeling just a little foolish at his automatic reaction to Ronon's use of the word, John settled back in front of the fire, but not before giving Ronon a dangerous look.

"Ok, so even if we do work out who has a price on our head, how does that even help us? We get rid of these bounty hunters, they'll just sent more after us. And that's where innocent people start to get hurt." John slanted a look at Arlia who had now fallen asleep. Ronon had pulled her onto his lap and she lay curled into him, face bathed in the glow of the fire. "We have to get her father out as well, and make sure that he wasn't hurt by refusing to help them."

Ronon' voice held a hint of steel. "She may have trusted him Sheppard, but I'm not convinced. I think he would have given us up in a heartbeat and I think there is something more to their meetings. He wanted payment himself, in exchange for giving you up. I am thinking she either missed that part of the discussion or chose not to hear it. And another thing she didn't even consider. If that had been your daughter, and she had been kidnapped and beaten like that, wouldn't you do everything you could to get her out yourself and not sit back and wait for help to arrive. When we arrived, he did not look like a man who was making any real effort to help her – am I off base here?"

John nodded. "I agree Ronon,and I know you didn't want to bring it up in front of her. There's another story here, and if we dig a little deeper,I'm sure we'll find a few answers that may cause more than just a few tears. Hope you're ready to take on the backlash friend, 'cause I can guarantee that there will be some." and he looked pointedly at Arlia as he said this.

Ronon was silent, chosing not to reply. Closing his eyes now, he let John take first watch and pulling Arlia closer against him, he fell quicklyinto sleep and Teyla was quick to follow. John stayed awake on watch, staring broodingly into the fire, pondering a plan so that they could go in tomorrow morning with some idea of how to proceed. He came to the conclusion that they needed to start at the source, and that was Arlia's father. Decision made, he leaned back against the rocky wall,mentally working his way through math problems, a means of keeping himself awake, this being a trick he had taught himself in the military. And waited for his watch to be over.


	4. Chapter 4 Behind the Lies

CHAPTER 4 – BEHIND THE LIES

John groaned as he stretched and pushed himself up off the cold, hard ground. The fire had wound down to smouldering ashes and Ronon sat, vigilant and gazing out at the forest beyond. "You know I'm too old to be sleeping on the hard ground anymore – too many nights in a soft bed..."

Ronon flicked his eyes skyward, noting that the storm had more or less abated and only a soft rain fell now. "Yeah, you've gotten soft Sheppard – forgot all your boy scout skills?"

Giving him a sharp push as he stumbled outside and out of sight of the cave, so that he could relieve himself, he wandered back to the cave, patting down his tactical vest pockets in search of food. "Damn Ronon, we did not come prepared! And no comments about boy scouts or going out into that bush to eat plants and leaves and other... stuff... I'm thinking a nice juicy McDonald's burger, some hot fries, even the shake sounds good about now."

Teyla had awoken and was looking at him quizzically. "You mean I never told you about McDonald's Teyla? Seems like a little field trip to earth might be in order in the near future. There are some food items that you really have to try."

"Like popcorn, John?" Teyla smiled, remembering movie nights and the ever present popcorn which she enjoyed very much.

"Exactly Teyla. I'm glad that you appreciate the finer things that earth has to offer. Now that we've got all talk of food out the way, and my stomach is protesting even further, perhaps you can wake Arlia up and we can move out. We're going to pay a little visit to her father, dear old dad, and have a little heart to heart with him. If you prefer her not to be privy to this chat, I suggest you keep her away from the meeting. We may get more out of him if she's not there..."

"We can't just leave her out here John. The bounty hunters are likely to find her." Ronon looked down at her, sleeping what he assumed, was the sleep of the innocent. "What do you want me do?"

"Stay here with her Ronon. Teyla and I will head back to the settlement. If Arlia can tell us a less direct route into his compound, we should be able to get to him and have a private chat with him without encountering any of the bounty hunters who are likely still holed up there. They'll be thinking that if we don't head for the stargate, we'll try and make it back to the compound and stage some sort of high noon scenario there."

Teyla started to get up, eager to be on the move and doing something and smiled at Ronon who would remain here.

"Babysitter Sheppard? Are you kidding? You need me in there man?"

"Damn it Ronon, you said it – we can't just leave her out here on her own. She trusts you and will you trust anyone else to watch out for her? Wake her up, find out if there is another way in... I'm thinking that as a child she found more than one way to hide within the compound so that she could move without being seen." Sheppard's expression grew hard and Ronon acknowledged the wisdom in what he said, and shook Arlia so that she rubbed her eyes and sat up, blinking slightly into the gray of morning.

Sheppard spoke in urgent tones to her. "We need to find a not so well know way into your father's compound – we're going in to make sure her has not been hurt..." at his ommission, Ronon looked away, not able to look at her. "Can you tell us a secret entrance, so to speak? One that those bounty hunters are unlikely to know about."

Arlia was quick to throw off the remnants of sleep. "Of course Colonel Sheppard, I know of one such way, one that we have have not had to use in my lifetime. It is small, you may have trouble in the tunnels. As a child I found it exciting to be able to go from building to building without being detected. However, I became trapped down there one day, and now... I do not go down there any more." Ronon gave her arm a gentle squeeze acknowledging the fear she must have felt as a child.

"Do you wish me to take you there? I don't know if I will be able to enter the tunnels... "She looked imploringly at Ronon as she said this and he gave Sheppard a look that said he understood the decision that he had made concerning leaving Arlia behind, even if it had not been for the ones originally voiced. It was the right decision, and he would stay here with her until they returned with information and food.

Following Arlia's directions, Teyla and John came to an entrance to a cellar in one of the buildings on the outskirts of the settlement. There had been no sign of the bounty hunters, in fact there had been little sign of any people and John began to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Teyla glanced at him in concern. "Your spidey senses John? It looks as though they are playing over your consciousness again?"

"Yeah Teyla... somethings not quite kosher here. Where is everyone? This should be a normal working day, a day for normal activities and even on a quiet day, there is still plenty of activity here.

Come to think of it, have you actually seen anyone?"

"No John, you are correct. It is deserted here and I cannot think of one explanation that would shed light on this. I suggest we make our way inside the compound to see whether Arlia's father is still here."

They entered the cellar that led down to a dark tunnel and John saw straight away that Arlia would not have been able to make herself enter this darkness. It was much worse than the darkness in the cave and he could easily imagine a terrified young girl becoming trapped down there.

They become lost themselves several times. It was a series of tunnels and John assumed that it had been used in the past as a means for the people to escape the wraith cullings, something that the people on this planet had not had to fear for some time now. In fact, Arlia's generation had never known a wraith culling. The wraith had stopped coming to this part of the galaxy many years ago and it was rumoured that a wraith shield that had been put in place 10,000 years ago by the ancients had been activated by a solar surge in the planet's sun. This at least, was the theory that Rodney had come up with when they had found the device. By going through the written history of what had occurred on that planet, they had learned that the ancients had indeed installed such a device, but that it had stopped working around 5000 years ago, and they had succumbed once again to wraith cullings. They also learnt that more than 100 years ago, the device had suddenly turned on again, or so they had assumed, as the wraith cullings ceased. Rodney and his science team had spent several days on the planet going over the device and through it's memory banks and the only significant event of interest had been the solar surge that had occurred at that time. Rodney had assumed that his was the event that had reenabled the device again.

The tunnels wound under the complex, and Arlia had been correct. They were small, and allowed for crouching only. John, standing at over 6 feet, found it extremely uncomfortable. The people from this world were far smaller in stature than the earth humans, and these tunnels had been built for their ease of travel,not that of the earth humans.

The came to an intersection that Arlia had told them about, and knew that the entrance to her father's quarters were just above after they had taken the right fork. Feeling very uncomfortable now, John was anxious to straighten himself out, and quickly took the right turn, locating the trapdoor overhead that would lead them into his quarters. Cautiously, he attempted to raise it and winced at the squeaking sound that it made. It had likely not been opened in a long time, probably not since Arlia's younger days when she had used these tunnels to play under the compound and spy on the adults.

John poked his head into the quarters and hearing nothing, gave the signal to Teyla who waited below in the dark for him. Raising himself up, he then reached a hand down to help here up, taking the time to dust off some of the filth and dirt that had coated him during his journey through the tunnel.

Hearing a noise coming from the room beyond, he placed a finger at this lips, telling Teyla to keep quiet and cautiously made his way to the door, waiting before taking the chance to take a look at whoever was on the other side of the room. He had his weapon held at the ready but he was not prepared for the sight that met him.

Wraith! Sitting calmly in one of the chairs with an upset Ryall in the seat opposite him. He had hunched forward in his chair and held his head in his hands and was quietly sobbing, while the wraith sat calmly and looked at him.

Steepling his hands, he spoke. "And what did you expect Chancellor? You broke our agreement. You did not deliver what you had promised to my bounty hunters. There will always be retribution when a promise is not delivered."

The sobbing man looked up now, and John could clearly see the defeat in his eyes. "The agreement was broken when your bounty hunters took my daughter. That was not part of the plan. We agreed that I would give you Sheppard and his team and in return you would give us continued immunity from the cullings. This bargain was broken!" He shouted these last word, and dashed a hand in anger across his eyes and John quietly moved further back into the room they were in, thoughts spinning through his head.

_Rodney was wrong._ John foremost thought was of the device._ It was not the device that kept the wraith away, the device never even worked... it was a placebo. There is an agreement here, in return for certain service that they are asked to provide, the people of Arlon are given immunity from the wraith. He could not provide that last service._ Then John's thought's went further. _The villagers are gone. Disappeared. They have been culled... oh hell, we've got to tell Arlia... there was a deal going down, but by god, this we did not expect!_

He motioned to Teyla that they needed to leave, and leave quickly. He had seen by her face that the same thoughts had been going through her head and there was suddenly a much larger picture that had to be looked at. Ronon was not going to be pleased and Arlia would feel betrayed. Her father had sacrificed his entire village.


	5. Chapter 5 Lambs to the Slaughter

CHAPTER 5 – LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER

Ronon and Arlia had found a stream a short distance from the cave and attempted to clean some of the filth from the cave off themselves. Ronon found himself watching her, using a strip of material she had dipped it in the water and dragged it across her arms, face and neck, then lifting her skirts slightly, she had repeated this procedure on her legs until she felt clean. Ronon had taken the cloth from her, turned her around, and lifting her long hair, he had wiped her neck and down her back to where it was exposed before it dipped into the low placed back of the dress she wore. His hands moved over her skin, following where the cloth had been, and he was aware of the change in her breathing and felt his need for her clench deep in his stomach.

He threw the cloth aside then, turning her so that she stood in the circle of his arms, face tipped up to his, trusting and open and he held her gaze for the longest time, until he could actually count the sparks that began to tingle off the ends of his fingers. His hands moved to her hair, dragged through to her scalp and as she threw her head back slightly to savour the feelings that were beginning to course through her, he lowered his head to brush his lips across hers, lightly, then stronger, so much stronger.

She felt her legs weaken as though no longer supported and he picked her up, her weight nothing and continued kissing her, while she laced her hands around his neck to draw him closer.

"I want you Arlia. Now. But we can't... I'll wait, till we can be together properly, and by God, we will be together. I've wanted you since the first time I met you, when we sat by the fire together, and you looked at me with those big soft eyes, and I would have taken you then. There."

"Why didn't you? I wouldn't have said no..." She pulled his face down for another kiss, but he resisted, needing to release some of the pressure that had begun to build.

"I had too much respect for you, and you were so young. I didn't want to hurt you. You've grown in a year, matured. Are you ready for me now?" He set her down now, still holding her tightly, thumbs rubbing softly against her waist, causing her to shiver.

"Only you..." and he murmured his approval at her answer, because if he made her his, he'd share her again with no man.

They stood like that for some time, lightly stroking, fires banked to a smoulder and it was the clearing of a throat that had Ronon spinning around, suddenly alert.

"Damn it Ronon! I could have been a whole damn army of wraith creeping up on you and you would've just smiled and said, I'm all yours. Get your thoughts out of your pants, and into the game – we've got big problems, Ronon, bloody big problems."

John and Teyla came out of the bushes having seen the engrossed look on Ronon's face and knowing that he needed to be brought swiftly back to reality.

"Sheppard! I'm gonna kick your balls into space and back for that comment" and releasing Arlia he started toward John, anger sparking off him in waves, halting only when the rest of John's comment sunk in. "Trouble... what sort of trouble? Is it Arlia's father?" His gaze flicked back to her, still standing quietly by the stream.

"In a manner of speaking Ronon, but this is gonna come as a cold hard shock. A deal was made all right, with the devil! Long white haired devil who sucks the life out of humans... getting my drift now?"

"Wraith? He made a deal with the wraith. Jesus John – Arlia – did you know this?" Ronon crossed the distance back to her, pulling roughly on her arm to drag her closer. "Please don't tell me you knew anything about this... there are some things I could not forgive..."

Arlia's face was anguished. "You would believe that of me Ronon? The wraith? They have been the enemy of my people for as long as the stories have been written. We have a device that has managed to repell them, but the threat is still there... always. It is what I grew up to know! My father would never make such a deal!"

"Wrong, sister!" John wanted to shake some of her faith in her father. "We saw them and heard them – he has had an arrangement with them for a long time, as has his father before him. The wraith give your planet immunity if he supplies them with certain favours of their choosing. As long as he completes these favours, or these tasks, then the planet is safe for another culling. His task this time was to supply the bounty hunters with myself and my team. Then your people would have immunity for the next culling."

Teyla spoke now, trying to calm the situation a little when she saw how upset Arlia was becoming. "He speaks the truth Arlia. He would have agreed to give up our team to the wraith, but the bounty hunters got carried away and took and harmed you. I think at that point he realised that he was over his head. He used your kidnapping to call us to this planet, hoping I think, that not only would we rescue you, we would also find some way to break his deal with the wraith. We have come from your village Arlia. The people, they are all gone. The culling has commenced and as he could not honour his task, the wraith have sought retribution."

Arlia collapsed now, a heap on the ground, eyes staring and huge in her face. Ronon was beside her in an instant, taking her close and pushing her face into his chest. "I'm so sorry Arlia, sorry for the loss of your people, and sorry that you have found out your father has been dealing with the wraith. I think his intentions were not bad, just misguided and he had no other way to fight them. I would think that he was at the end of his sanity and by calling us in, he thought it would all end, that we could end the agreement and best the wraith." Feeling her sobbing against him, Ronon stroked her hair softly.

"Arlia... if he had told us from the beginning who the real enemy were, we could have come in prepared and protected your people. His crime is in ommission of information. Yes, he was misguided, but his reasons were sound and he only had the welfare of his people at heart." John have moved towards them, and rested a hand softly on her back so that she could feel she had his support also.

"We need to pull everything together now, and get back to Atlantis. We'll organise a rescue mission for your people."

"How John? How will we get back? The stargate will be heavily guarded. And how do we rescue an entire village from the wraith? You should not promise such things as they have not been done before!" Teyla's voice was fierce. Many human settlements had been lost to the wraith, and it was something that the people of this galaxy had come to accept and they did not have the means to stand up to them.

"Damn it Teyla, not this time! I will find a way to get those people back. And we've gotten through a heavily guarded stargate before – I'm not ready to lay down and give up here, and neither should you. You've always had the courage of your convictions and I need you to find that courage now."

Teyla stared at John in surprise. Yes, she had seen him angry before, disappointed, many things – but the sheer fury that rolled off him in tangible waves had her taking just one step back as though seeing him for the first time. She knew then, that he would not rest until it was done, and the words he had spoken to her were the truth.

"I'm sorry John, I do not wish to sound like a pessimist. I will support you, you know that. Always."

"Thank you Teyla, that's all I needed to hear from you. Ronon? Are you in?"

Ronon stared at him steadily, and feeling the soft skin of Arlia, knew that he would pledge both his life and his ability to fight to the end to her. And to John. They were his family, and family stuck together.

"Always John. Just tell me what to do. I'm in. Time we taught the wraith they can't take what they want from this galaxy anymore. Time to stand up and fight."

He tipped his face up to the sky to feel the weak sun that shone through. The sun of this galaxy, the galaxy that he swore, a lifetime ago, to protect. Time to make true on that promise.


	6. Chapter 6 Standing up to the Enemy

CHAPTER 6 – STANDING UP TO THE ENEMY

The arrived back at the stargate and carefully stayed under the cover of nearby trees to outline their options. It would not be an easy task. The gate was guarded by six wraith, it seemed that the bounty hunter's services were no longer required, and John wondered briefly if their penance for failure was death. That seemed likely. The wraith would not be so forgiving.

Ronon crept up close beside John so that he could talk quietly into his ear. "Plan Colonel? Six wraith against the four of us, three fighters and one civillian. We can take them, two each?"

John was silent for a long while and Ronon had to nudge him for a response. "Actually Ronon, my plan is just a little bigger..."

He drew them back a little deeper into the trees and Ronon noticed that his eyes held the gleam of the possibility of a mission that could kick some serious ass. In other words, the Colonel was on fire.

"We've got six wraith on the ground here, there's likely to be others on the planet. Good assumption Ronon, Teyla?" When they both nodded he continued, and began pacing now as though in a lecture and trying to get his point across to students. "So, they would've come in with darts, which would mean that cruiser is sitting pretty close by to store the culled humans before transporting them all back to the hive ship at a later time. Still with me here?"

"Trying John, not sure where you're going with this though..." Ronon held Arlia close beside him and noticed that she looked at John with wary eyes as though she did not fully trust him yet.

"Getting there Ronon... sometimes there are no shortcuts, and by taking the longer route, I'm still in the planning stages in my own mind." He paused now, and shut his eyes briefly, as though pulling up some mental image. "The dart ships at a squeeze will fit two humans for flight, won't they?"

"Really only designed for one Sheppard... and I'm thinking now I get where you're going... but you gotta be crazy if you think we can fly those things..."

"Not crazy Ronon, just a little desperate. And with desperation, sometimes comes a perfect plan. Hell yeah, we take two of the darts and fly them up to the cruiser, that's where Arlia's people are being kept for now. We won't have long before they're transported back to the hive ship. I'm guessing that the only reason they're still here, is they won't leave until they have us. So, we'll give them us... on a silver platter."

"You're talking suicide Sheppard. We can't take a cruiser down!"

"With backup we can! Come on Ronon, where's your balls – this is a chance to make a stand against them. Take out the six wraith at the gate, get a message through to Atlantis about what has happened and get hem to send in cloaked jumpers to assist and help get Arlia's people out."

"Why not just go back to Atlantis and get the jumpers ourselves?" Teyla looked confused as though having difficulty following John's reasoning.

"Time Teyla, we need to get on that cruiser as soon as possible, just in case they do decide to leave early. If they leave, we will never get Arlia's people back."

Ronon was nodding now, as though the plan was beginning to make sense to him. "I want to send Arlia back to Atlantis though. I don't need to be worrying about her, and I don't want her coming up to that ship with us. That's not negotiable." He tucked her head against his chest and ran his hand down her hair.

"Fair enough Ronon, but we need to do this now. Take out the guards at the gate first. Arlia, you need to wait here until we give you the all clear to come out. Understand?"

Ronon felt her nod against his chest and he pulled her away from him slightly to look down into her eyes. "We'll get your people back Arlia, or die trying. And when this is over, you and me? We need to talk. I need to state my intentions." He cradled her head in his hands then, and leaned down for a fast hot kiss that left her gasping, John grinning and Teyla turning away in embarassment.

"Ok, let's do this!"

Ronon pulled out his knife, holding this securely in one hand and the gun that they had taken from one of the bounty hunters in the other and moved toward the stargate. They still had the element of surprise, and while the wraith were there to stop them going through the gate, they would not be expecting an attack from the humans.

John took two of the wraith on the left side. Firing several blasts of the energy weapon in quick succession, he took one of them down immediately, although he knew it wouldn't be for long, and he leapt on the second one who had only been briefly stunned and was already raising his own weapon. With the knife in one hand, he planted a booted foot in the stomach of the second wraith, pushing his backwards onto the ground and firing a second blast into him, then following it up with a knife at the throat, drawing it across quickly and efficiently so that the cut throat partially severed the head from the body. Hands now drenched in the blood of the wraith, he turned to find that the first wraith was off the ground and coming at him.

A blast from Ronon's weapon had him down, and John whirled, slashing with his knife, but only glancing across the hand that had been reached for him. The wraith screamed, this had been his feeding hand, and he fell back onto his knees on the ground, cradling the hand and hissing at John.

"Human! You dare to fight us? Your kind is the weaker species in this galaxy and you dare to challenge our right to feed on the weaker species?" Hissing in pain, he pushed himself to his feet,and John fired three more shots into him,and watched as the stunned look on his face slowly left it along with his life force.

Whirling around now, he saw Teyla involved in arm to arm combat with her second wraith, having successfully despatched the first through a surprise attack. She was formidable when it came to arm to arm combat, however he came up behind the wraith with his knife, and slashed across the back of the neck as deep as he could, causing the wraith to turn in surprise. This allowed Teyla a moment's respite and she came hard at the wraith from the front, until he was down on the ground. Drawing her weapon she fired several times until he lay dead.

John and Teyla both turned to find that Ronon still had one wraith left to finish, and seeing the other two humans heading towards him, he turned and started running into the forest where Arlia was hiding.

"No you don't..." muttered John and he followed him, centering his weapon on the wraith's back, firing in succession until he too fell, still twitching, to the ground. Hearing Arlia's scream, Ronon ran for the forest, worried that she had been surprised by more wraith coming to investigate, but she was down on her knees staring in shock at the bloodshed she had just witnessed. "Ronon... so much death, so much violence. How do you live that way?"

"Hush sweetheart... don't look for now, come here and keep your head turned away."

Not to be pacified so easily, she pushed away from him. "You didn't answer me Ronon! How do you live this way? This is the life that you want to bring me into?" She turned anguished eyes towards him and unable to answer her, grabbed her hands to drag her out of the forest and toward the stargate.

"You'll go back to Atlantis Arlia. We'll talk about it when this is all over. This is who I am, you can't take away the bits you don't like. This is what I am, accept it or not."

She resisted slightly as he pulled her along, trying not to look at the bloodshed that circled around the gate and wondered if she knew at all, the man who moved with such assurance, in front of her.


	7. Chapter 7 Protecting the Innocent

CHAPTER 7 – PROTECTING THE INNOCENT

"You're going to do what, John? Did I hear you correctly? Take wraith darts and land on a wraith cruiser and attempt to rescue an entire culled village... I'm sure that's what I didn't just hear..." Elizabeth did not sound amused at having received communication from them – finally, to find that John had planned a suicide mission such as the one he had just presented to her.

"We've heard nothing from you in over 24 hours, hell – Major Lorne has been organising search teams to come through the gate, and you spring this on me?"

"We've got no time to waste Elizabeth, and if Lorne had come through that gate, he would have been met by wraith, which are now, I might add, a mess of bodies making this area look a tad untidy. I need Lorne to take those jumpers, all of them, with as many marines as he can, fly them cloaked and rendevous with us at the cruiser. It is in orbit above the planet – tell him to contact me via radio as soon as he has visual on this ship. Oh, and we're sending Arlia through the gate now, Ronon wants her to remain on Atlantis for the duration."

"John, I don't know if I can sanction your rescue mission. You are putting too many of Atlantis personnel at risk – we have never interfered with the cullings before, at least not once they have been transported from their planets. The risk has always been too great – you know that John!"

"Then it's time we did, and this is where we make our stand. I'll do this with or without your support Elizabeth, the time to sit back and watch the wraith destroy whole worlds is over."

Elizabeth was silent for a moment and when she next spoke it was to Ronon and Teyla. "Are you in agreement with this?"

Teyla answered her first. "We've stood by our entire lives and watched the wraith come again and again to take our people. I will fight alongside Colonel Sheppard. It is time."

Ronon's voice was rough. "I fight for my people and the fall of my world and I fight for my woman and her world. That is all you need to know Elizabeth."

He moved over to where Arlia stood by the shimmering event horizon of the stargate, waiting to step through and took her into his arms. She leaned against him. "Be safe Ronon, and come back to me." and cast one last look at him as she stepped through the wormhole.

John clapped a firm hand on Ronon's back and waited until he had turned to acknowledge him. "Ok man, let's do this. Three pilots, three darts." Ronon nodded at him and quirking an eyebrow at Teyla, she nodded too. Time to take back what was theirs.

The darts had landed not far from the stargate. Teyla already carried a remnant of the wraith gene and would therefore have no difficulty is using the interface required to fly the darts. Wraith technology was based on living organisms, so that all components of wraith vessels appeared to be of living and organic matter and if damaged, could shut down parts of it's own system to repair the damaged parts. It was a technology that they had only begun to study and did not understand, however knew that in order to fly any wraith vessels, wraith DNA was a requirement. John and Ronon had both been injected with the DNA some time ago during a mission where they had discovered a wraith laboratory and had been briefly captured by one of their scientists. He had been performing experiments on humans, and had injected both John and Ronon during their capture. John was hoping that the remnants of this would still be in their bloodstream and would allow them to interface with the dart's control system.

Ronon called to Teyla just as they were getting into the cockpit. "So Teyla – a heads up on how these things work? Might be good..."

She smiled at him. "It works the same as flying our jumpers Ronon, the same as the ancient technology for control. Think and it will happen. Mind interface, you tell the ship what you want it to do, and it will do it... within it's capabilities of course!"

"Ok, I can do that..." and he climbed into the cockpit, hearing John's laughter in the background as he boarded his own ship. _Ok for him, _thought Ronon sourly. _He's a damn pilot!_

However, Teyla did not speak far from the truth. The mind interface was simple to operate and they were able to successfully take off from the planet and head into the atmosphere, letting the dart's natural homing capability make it's own way back to the wraith cruiser. When they sighted it ahead of them, John hitched a breath. This was a daring mission, even for them and it would take all of their collection brains and brawn to make this work.

John activiated his radio. He did not see the jumpers, they would be cloaked as per his instructions, but did not wish to board the ship until he knew they had reached the rendevous point.

"Sheppard here. Lorne? Your jumpers in position?" The radio gave a brief crackle and John breathed a sigh of relief as her heard the voice of Major Lorne, his dry humour coming through the radio channel.

"Acknowledged Colonel. We're in place, invisible and staring down the guns of a wraith cruiser. Oh, and I imagine we're about to board it... Colonel, Sir!"

John suppressed a grin, letting him have his fun, then responded. Protocol, while important in all military situations, did sometimes take a slightly more lax backburner out here in Pegasus. They had each other's backs, and considering the scale of some of the missions that went on, their humour was often a little... different.. to what would have been found on combat missions on earth. The rules were just a little different out here.

"Lorne – listen up, other jumpers acknowledge!" He waited until they all checked in. "Ok folks, here's the plan, and it's gonna take a little careful co-ordination to get this one to work. Now, we could have a little trouble with room in the dart bay, so we'll need to scope this out first, before you fly on it there after us. If we can get all the jumpers in there, land where you can, stay cloaked. Once we've taken out any of the wraith in the vicinity, we'll meet up before we head into the ship itself. Teyla has advised that the culled humans will be held in cocoons and we have an approximate location for these. We have the element of surprise – I want to take out all the wraith that we can, and our destination is the control room."

Ronon's voice crackled over the radio now. "I thought we were going to use the jumpers to get the humans out, Sheppard?"

"That's plan B Ronon. Plan A is a little trickier. We take the control room and fly the damn cruiser down to the planet and land it."

Ronon's voice sounded a little incredulous. "You want us to take over the bridge on a wraith cruiser. Just like that?"

"Element of surprise Ronon. They're not expecting us, and they don't expect human's to have the audacity to even attempt such a rescue. That's our advantage, that and you happen to have one of the best military leaders in the Pegasus Galaxy leading this mission..."

Lorne's dry voice interjected. "Humility not really a part of it, huh Colonel?"

"No time for such things Lorne. Plan A good people, is a go. If that fails, we fall back to plan B – get the people out into the jumpers and hightail it back to Atlantis. Good luck and see ya on the flip side!"


	8. Chapter 8 To Begin a Life?

CHAPTER 8 – TO BEGIN A LIFE?

John took the lead, flying his jumper under the cruiser and nosing it carefully into the dart bay, fully cloaked but mindful of the fact that darts could come in and out of here and would unfortunately, not pass through the cloaking device, but would effectively crash into the ship. The dart bay was large, and there were few darts inside and John was able to bring the jumper to a smooth landing near the rear of the bay, and radio Lorne to bring the rest of his team in... carefully.

They met at the rear doors, there was no wraith activity in the jumper bay and John assumed that the humans that had recently been culled from the planet were being readied for their incarceration into cocoons, and this was keeping the foot soldiers busy for now. This would, of course, make their job a little harder.. _but hey, who said that easy was the best way to go? _The thought sprung rather irreverently into John's head, and he almost laughed out loud, catching Ronon's eye and seeing the flicker of amusement that lingered there, just briefly. They were on the same page, that much was certain.

The cocoon area was near the centre of the ship, not far from the control room and they met six wraith soldiers during their journey through the organic hallways, and using weapons that were not set to stun, they managed to disable them on a more or less permanent basis – John was not completely sure just how dead these creatures actually stayed as their powers of regeneration were rather formidable. But for now... these ones, for all intents and purposes, appeared to show no discernable life signs and their bodies were dragged out of sight so that they could continue their progress to the cocoon area.

Four more soldiers later and they reached their goal. The cocoon area was long and seemed more than just a little eerie to John. He gave a shiver... it was disconcerting to say the least, looking at these faces, now covered in a fine layer of organic web material that kept them at the lowest ebb of their life force, ensuring their 'freshness' for later feeding. The eyes of the cocooned humans were open, but they were unable to speak, paralysed and held captive by the sticky threads.

"Jesus..." John muttered. "This is gonna take more than just a little bit of work... Plan A is definitely the way to go... no way are we gonna get these all out of here and back to the jumpers before we are discovered. Ok, so we know they're all here and more or less accounted for – let's take out the bridge and take this baby on a little test flight...hmmm?"

Lorne gave a small smile. "Always looking for a new ship to flight... Colonel?"

"Damn right Lorne. Move out people!"

They left the cocoon area and made their way deeper into the ship until they came to the room that housed the controls and bridge area. John knew that there would be at least four wraith in this part of the ship, and knew also, that surprise would be their only weapon for now.

He motioned for Lorne, Teyla and three of his marines to take one side of the door, while Ronon, himself and three more marines took their side and waiting just a moment to clear his head, he gave the hand signal that would send them all in, guns firing in unison.

His plan worked, mostly. They did take out the four wraith that were in the control area and John went immediately to the controls, running an eye over them.

"Hope you know what you're doing Sheppard? This is a bit bigger than a dart, we take this down the wrong way, it'll make a hell of a mess..."

"Just concentrate on taking out any wraith that decide to be a little more nosy than required, leave flying this lady to me.." John placed his hands on the control panel, and 'thought' about taking the ship out of orbit and down to the planet below. He felt the slight tug of the controls, as the ship attempted to respond, however while his synthetic wraith DNA may have been strong enough to pilot a dart, it did not appear to be strong enough to activate the controls on the cruiser.

"Colonel Sheppard. I believe you do not have a strong enough version of the DNA to fly this?" Teyla was casting worried glances at the door, where Ronon was waiting, weapon drawn.

"Lorne! I need you to drag one of those dead wraith over here... I'm gonna try something..."

"Plan B starting to look a little better now Sheppard?" Ronon kept his weapon trained on the doorway, waiting for the arrival of my wraith.

"Have some faith Ronon, I haven't found a ship yet that I can't fly. This one won't get the better of me... Lorne... get him over here, now!"

Lorne and one of the marines picked up one of the dead wraith under the arms and dragged him over to John.

"Ok, lift him up now, you'll need to keep him propped up for me. Damn it! Why can't they use seats in their control room, like any other normal ship... makes things just a little more difficult. Ok Lorne, that's it – I need his hand." John picked up the hand, unable to hide his grimace of disgust realising that it was the feeding hand he now held. "Now that is just.. wrong!" He placed the hand on the control panel, and felt the ship respond. "Better..."

Ronon called out urgently. "Incoming Sheppard!"

"Hold them off Ronon, you too Teyla. I need a little time, and sunshine here won't stand up on his own – I still need to keep his hand pushed down onto the control panel. You'll have to do this one yourselves boys and girls..."

The sound of energy weapon fire came from the hallway and John knew that through the wraith mindlink, they understood that their control room had been compromised and all available soldiers would be heading their way to thwart the attack. Time had suddenly run out.

"Damn it Sheppard, there's too many of them. I don't know how long we can hold them for."

"Lorne, can you radio Atlantis. Tell them what is happened, have them meet us on the planet surface with another team of fully armed marines. If we can't kill them all up here, we'll finish them off from the ground."

A round of energy fire made it's way into the control room and John saw two of the marines hit by the blast and fall.

"Damn it. You need to hold them off!"

"Trying Colonel, but they've got us outnumbered."

"Teyla, round up the weapons from the dead wraith. They'll be more effective."

John had the cruiser heading down to the planet surface, using a combination of wraith DNA and his own DNA as the ship still needed a mind interface to respond to, and a dead wraith was beyond giving out commands of any sort.

Now firing two handed, using both wraith energy weapons and their own P90's, they started doing some damage, and were able to move beyond the control room, into the hallway, slowly pushing the wraith back, away from the control room. John continued to concentrate on landing the cruiser, which was proving far more difficult than he originally thought. The ship was sluggish and his mind interface not sufficiently clear to land the ship cleanly, and it came in too fast, bouncing once off the ground, hard. There was a break from the weapons fire and John assumed that the jarring of the ship had caused both the attacked and the attackers to concentrate on stabilising themselves.

As soon as the ship was down, John dropped the hand of the wraith that he had been holding secure on the control panel, with disgust and in a somewhat childish gesture, wiped his hands on the legs of his pants. Picking up his own weapon, plus the weapon of the wraith who had just slid down to the ground, he left the control room, to join in the fun.

Lorne had two wraith cornered just beyond the control room, and John, running around the corner came face to face with a drawn energy weapon, narrowly missing it's blast and bringing up his own P90, laying down a stuttering line of bullets, that cut through both wraith, leaving Lorne to finish them off with the energy weapon.

"Nice save Colonel... good of you to drop in and assist!"

"Hey! Someone had to put the ship down in one piece..."

"One piece – is that what you call it? Damn near landed on my head when you touched down... ever flown a shuttle mission sir? Light on the controls... just saying!"

"Funny Lorne... I didn't see anyone else stepping up to put their hands on that equipment, so enough with the wise cracks. Where's Ronon?"

Lorne pointed his weapon down a hallway to the right. "In pursuit of three wraith, and they were running pretty fast."

"Ok, let's round up what's left and get these people out of the cocoons, before they become permanently fused to that … stuff... that's holding them in there."

It was another half hour before the remaining wraith had been neutralised and a weary team with the backup marines, pushed out of the doorway to stand on the ground of the planet. Other marines stood weapons ready and John motioned with his hand.

"Stand down boys... we're good here. We need to get those people out though... " He took a moment to take a deep breath of the fresh air, the dank and stale tasting air of the wraith cruiser a dirty taste in his mouth.

It was clean up time, as John put it not so succintly. They mostly left the marines to getting out the culled villagers, and John, Ronon and Teyla went into the village to find Arlia's father. They did not have to go far to fnd him. He stood in the centre of the village square, a broken man, having heard the sound of the cruiser coming down, and assumed that the wraith had come back to finish the job they had started. He started, when he saw it was them, and allowed himself a brief moment of hope.

"Arlia? My daughter?"

"You daughter... sir!... is safe and well in Atlantis, and that is where she will stay for now. If and when, she is ready to see you again, you will know, but for now, you do not deserve to call her that. Your reasons were wrong and you jeopardised your entire population over a wrong decision. You will need to live with that, and some would say that it is punishment enough... but you will not govern this village any longer. You will be held accountable for your actions." John did not pull any punches, knowing what this man had done, to his people, to his daughter and knew that if the words were not said, Ronon would have gone in with his fists... and this was one of those times, when words were the stronger of the two options.

Ronon let John have his say, before facing the man who had almost sent his daughter... his woman!... to her death.

"Your daughter is with me now. I will give her the life that should have been given to her here. If she chooses to come back to see you, consider yourself a very lucky man, for you surely do not deserve another chance at her love."

Ronon looked at the man hard, seeing only the broken shell and knew that punishment came in many forms, and turning, walked away.

It was a long time later that he stepped out of the jumper into the jumper bay in Atlantis, it seemed a lifetime ago that he had arrived on Arlon and laid eyes on the young girl in the jail cell whom he had been charged to find and protect. He would continue to honour that pledge, if she let him and he tightened in anticipation, as she entered the jumper bay, having been alerted by Elizabeth to their arrival.

"Ronon! You're back, safely..." and she was in his arms, body to body and he felt the tingle of anticipation for what they would soon share... very soon... as he looked down at the promise and blatant need in her eyes, a look that he knew was more than showing in his own.

She did not ask immediately about her father, and he did not volunteer the information. Taking her hand, he led her through the hallways, stopping just the once to enter the transporter. As soon as that door had closed, her had her pushed up against the wall, bending his head to take her mouth in a hungry kiss, while his body pushed urgently against hers, leaving her in no doubt as to the need that was building up in him.

"I want you Arlia.. now!" His hands pushed under the shirt that she wore, needing to feel the silk of her skin and he heard her sigh, which quickly became soft moans and he fought to control himself as the transporter came to a stop and the door slid open. He leaned his forehead against hers, feeling the calming breaths she sought to take, and placed a hand over her breast, feeling the fast beating of her heart.

"I don't think I can wait, Arlia... I need to have you... I promised myself I would wait, until we could talk and make plans... I need you too much."

She did not reply, just looked up at him with those beautiful eyes and her hand reached down to touch him.. there... and he was lost. He picked her up, dropping his head only to trail another scorching kiss along her neck and strode through the hallway to his private quarter's, her soft giggle echoing down the hallway as the door slid closed. Then there was only the rustle of clothes, soft sighs and the sounds of love. She became his woman that night and she put her own brand on him. Anything else was just a formality.


End file.
